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Adam’s Journal
There are certain smells that evoke a specific time or place for me. This perfume that comes with an electric storm brings me to the New Hampshire lake where I spent summer when I was a child. The aroma of the Maple flavored coffee brings me a photo of my wife as she went to bed every morning to make a crossword puzzle before facing the day.
Is it just me, or is there a special link between our noses and our memories?
Dr Scofield prescribed
The link between smells and memory is very real, and it is universal. For example, over a century ago, the French author Marcel Proust recalled how a Madeleine cake bite and a sip of tea brought her back to her youth: “The smell and taste of things have long been ready as souls, ready to remember.”
Since then, neuroscientists have determined that the link between our smell and the brain is quite direct, more than certain other meanings. It is also extremely specific: we each have more than 400 types of olfactory receivers. This specificity helps to explain why odors can trigger such precise memories.
As with most senses, the smell decreases as we age. And research has revealed that this loss of odor is accompanied by a worsening of memory and cognitive function.
More specifically, the decreases in the ability to feel are early symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson. And the speed of decline seems to be of importance. A study by the University of Chicago revealed that the more a person had lost his olfactory senses, the more likely he was to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
At least a smaller study suggests that a person’s nose formation could help counter some of the symptoms associated with dementia. A study in 2021 on dementia patients revealed that the training of odors improved depression and helped participants remember the words more quickly. Another study in 2022 revealed that the elderly suffering from depression experienced a decrease in symptoms after several months of training in odors.
So, you probably ask what the training of odors is?
From what I read is like daily training for your nose. Experts recommend finding a handful of strong household items and sniffing each for 30 seconds each morning. You want to avoid caustic things – coffee and spices are good; Javel, not so much – and mix them.
Over time, this can often improve your olfactory senses. Like everything in your body, the more you use them, the better they will work.
If you feel really adventurous, you can try your own version of an experience published in Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2023. There, researchers saw memory improvements in a small group of adults aged 60 to 85 who were exposed to a collection of different perfumes using fragrant broadcasters for two hours per night while they slept.
If this is proven in larger studies, it could offer an easy and affordable way to improve memory for the elderly. And just imagine what it could mean if it worked in the same way for pilling students for the finals!
Dr. Hal Scofield is a doctor-scientist at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and he is also a chief of staff associated for research at Oklahoma City Va Medical Center. Adam Cohen is vice-president and general lawyer of OMRF. Send your health questions to contact@omrf.org.